Queensland Men’s Sevens claim third straight national championship

Queensland has claimed it’s third straight men’s sevens title, with Queensland Red taking out the National Championships final at Ballymore on Sunday afternoon.

The Queensland side went through the tournament undefeated, winning pool games against NSW II, National Indigenous and ACT, before defeating Western Australia and Queensland Grey in the qualifying and semi-finals to earn their place in the final.

Taking on NSW I in the championship decider, Queensland were dominant with strong performances from Gold Coast duo Hayden Sargeant and Corbin Kiernan, the latter crossing for a hat-trick, guiding Queensland to a 28-nil lead. NSW scored late in the match whilst Queensland were reduced to six players to leave the final score at 28-7.

Queensland Men’s head coach Cassidy Holland, who has coached Queensland to all three titles, was pleased with the performance of his side.

“We spoke about being clinical and starting fast before the game, we wanted to dominate and attack the edges and the team delivered,” said Holland.

“We were frustrated with the way the pools worked out, our Queensland Grey side defeated NSW I in the pools but the way points worked out we had to play the Grey side in the semi last night which meant only one Queensland side could go through.

“The Red side only won the semi over Grey by seven points and that speaks to the depth within our squad.”

The Queensland Grey side finished third overall, defeating NSW II 26-17 in the third-place
play-off.

Holland also credited the newly formed Queensland Premier Rugby Sevens tournament for unearthing new talent.

“The Premier Rugby Sevens helped us discover some new talent, the players in the Grey team in particular. There were four-five players that were legitimate contenders for the Red team, players like Norths duo Nick Chapman and Jordan Luke have been particularly impressive.”

In the Youth Girls division, the Queensland teams missed out on the final, with Queensland Red and White finishing in third and fourth overall while Queensland Grey finished in sixth.

In the Youth Boys, Queensland White made it through to the final where they went down to NSW I, while Queensland Grey finished third and Queensland Red finished sixth.

Queensland Rugby Union High Performance Manager – Sevens Lachlan Parkinson said: “I’m really proud of all our team’s efforts over the last few days, everyone out there played their best Rugby.

“In both the youth boys and girls, we had a lot of 15 and 16-year-old players competing at their first nationals and the experience will help them moving forward.

“We’re really happy with how our men’s team have performed. Our head coach Cassidy Holland has been extremely influential for this group and has developed our Sevens program year-on-year.

“Having the Premier Rugby Sevens allowed our players to get more game time under their belts ahead of the Nationals, you can see combinations and fitness on field and that has been invaluable, we’re lucky to have that launched this year.

“Sevens is on the rise and we’re looking forward to 2019 and beyond, with 2020 being an Olympic year.”

For full results from the National Sevens Championship, follow the links below: